Interconnecting cabling systems, such as telecommunication networks, consist of numerous lines. The physical embodiments of such lines include copper-wire cables and fiber-optic cables between different points in the network, like switches and patch panels.
The cabling system owners, such as telecom operators, maintain their networks with the help of administrative systems that represent the networks in databases. As the physical networks expand, it becomes increasingly complex to perform network administration in a database, with a growing likelihood of differences occurring between the physical network and the administrative data. This obviously confronts the network manager with a problem.
WO2004/044599 discloses a system and method for automatically obtaining the connectivity status, or map, of a cabling system in a data and/or voice network. This provides the possibility of comparing the physical reality with the administrative data A known problem with existing systems for measuring and comparing the actual connectivity status of a cable link to the administrative database, further referred to as “mapping system”, is that today's networks comprise too many lines to allow the mapping of all lines for the purpose of comparing physical status to administrative data for network management purposes. So to use a mapping system efficiently a selection of links to be measured at a given point in time has to be made. Existing mapping systems lack the ability to support this selection of relevant lines. And the human network manager has to make this selection.
Another problem encountered with existing systems is that it remains unclear what action needs to taken when a discrepancy is detected between the status of the physical line and the administrative data. Sometimes the administrative data has to be “cleaned”; sometimes the physical line has to be repaired. Existing systems only detect a difference, but cannot provide information with regard of the possible cause of the difference.